On the subject of convicts and how they are treated, Dickens also makes his attitude clear by talking about hulks. “Hulks are prison ships, right across the marshes.” (Page 16) As Dickens says, hulks are prison ships. Dickens is telling the readers that keeping prisoners in ships and, in this case, taking them to Australia is ridiculous. Another point that was mentioned to me was that one third of criminals died on the way. This is obviously unfair treatment towards criminals and supports Dickens’s view that the treatment of criminals was poor.
Dickens’s description of the capture of the two convicts again shows his attitude of Victorian crime and punishment. As I have mentioned before, each prisoner had to wear an iron on his leg. As well as the iron leg: “Both were bleeding and panting and execrating and struggling” and “seemed to be bruised and torn all over. He could not so much as get his breath to speak,” (Page 35 and 36) These two extracts from the book both show that the treatment was horrendous. Dickens mentions blood, bruising, etc, which paints a picture in the readers mind and makes them feel how poor the handling of criminals actually was. On addition to this, Dickens says that each prisoner had to stop and rest. This adds to the point that Dickens tells us, which is that the treatment of criminals was appalling. Compared to nowadays, there is a clear difference. The treatment of criminals today is luxury when matched against the treatment of criminals in Victorian times, which was exceptionally poor.
Another point that I would like to talk about is the unfair power of a defence attorney at the time. Mr Jaggers, as we can tell from the book, is a defence attorney. In fact he is a very powerful one. He is in control of his clients and can make them do what he wants. The reason for this is because his clients depend upon him, otherwise he will not defend them and they will get sentenced. The point that I am trying to make here is that it is again unfair for the guilty person. Dickens is telling us that, although that may have committed a crime, he still feels the way the clients were treated was unfair due to the position of lawyers.
To extend on the above views, I am going to discuss Magwitch’s story. Basically we are told that even though Compeyson and himself committed the same crime they are treated differently. Compeyson was treated better than Magwitch because of his wealth and because he was more posh than Magwitch. Compeyson was given a lighter sentence than Magwitch for committing the same crime. Surely, if two people commit the same crime they should receive the same sentence. But in this case hey don’t and therefore the law has treated Magwitch unfairly.
My final point is when Magwitch comes to trial. Once again the law is unduly harsh due to the punishment not fitting the crime. In Great Expectations Dickens makes his point clear by having 32 people receiving the same punishment for different crimes. As well as this, he tells us all 32 people were told at the same time. This is again unfair to prisoners.
Overall, Dickens has made it obviously clear to us his attitude towards crime and punishment I the Victorian era. He feels that it is very unfair and unjust due to the above reasons. I think that if Dickens could see the treatment of prisoners today he would be much more satisfied.
